Unisom warning regarding enlarged prostate gland

[elguapo]

I just bought a box of Unisom, the sleep tablets. There is a suggesting under "Warnings" that says "ask a doctor before use if you have trouble urinating due to an enlarged prostate."

Do you think implies that this pill might have an effect on hair loss?

 

[Guest]

why would these tablets effect hairloss?

 

[helpmefindmyhair]

elguapo,

Hi. I take benadryl (diphenhydramine) as a sleep aid. Unisom contains the same ingredient. Benadryl comes with the same warning. I was curious too as to why this was so and discovered the following on the net:

http://www.intelihealth.com/chn/medhelp/HA/00234141.htm

Q: I have a friend who takes Benadryl quite often for his allergies. He heard that this antihistamine affects the prostate gland somehow. Is this true? Do other antihistamines also have this effect?

A: Benadryl (diphenhydramine) is one of our oldest antihistamines. As a "first generation" antihistamine, it possesses some distinctive side effects, largely directed at the central nervous system. The most common side effect is sedation. It also has some capacity to block activity of the cholinergic nervous system, which is important for mucus secretion and for urination. So in older men with enlarged prostates, first generation drugs like Benadryl (and in fact most other over-the-counter antihistamines) can make it difficult to start urination. In extreme cases (large doses or very big prostates), it can even lead to urinary obstruction, which requires catherization to relieve. This effect is not on the prostate gland itself, but on the nerves that control urination, so Benadryl will not make prostatism worse.

Fortunately, the newer second-generation antihistamines, such as loratadine (Claritin), fexofenadine (Allegra), and to a lesser degree cetirizine (Zyrtec) have been engineered to avoid the central nervous system effects, which means that they rarely produce sedation or urinary retention. Newer intranasal antihistamines such as levocabastine and azelastine also avoid these complications since only a small part of the dose sprayed into the nose gets into the bloodstream. At the present time in the United States, all of these second-generation antihistamines are available by prescription only. If you have a problem with urinary retention, drowsiness or excessive dryness of the mucous membranes from older antihistamines, these newer antihistamines are for you.
July 26, 1999

N. Franklin Adkinson, Jr., M.D. is professor of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He also holds a joint appointment in Environmental Health Sciences.

 

[elguapo]

Thanks guys.

I thought it might affect hair loss because of the warning. Here's my logic:

1) Finasteride was originally approved to treat enlarged prostates. So it is good for enlarged prostates, helping reduce the size of the prostate.

2) The Unisom warning says don't use Unisom if you have an enlarged prostate. So this suggests that it might do the opposite of what finasteride does.

But your input suggests that the warning is for an entirely different reason, having to do with mucus (sp?) secretion, rather than affecting the size of the prostate in the way that finasteride does. So I don't think Unisom would counteract the effects of precious finasteride.

Thanks again.

 

[helpmefindmyhair]

elguapo,

It comes with that warning because diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Unisom, can make urination more difficult. A guy with an enlarged prostate is already going to have difficulty urinating and diphenhydramine would just add to the problem.

"So in older men with enlarged prostates, first generation drugs like Benadryl (and in fact most other over-the-counter antihistamines) can make it difficult to start urination."

"This effect is not on the prostate gland itself, but on the nerves that control urination, so Benadryl will not make prostatism worse."

 

[x5o]

I've been told that histamine release on the scalp helps in hair growth...............would logic dictate that an antihistamine would hinder it??